Explosive Media: Iranian state-linked AI Lego-style videos claiming that Tehran has “won the propaganda war”

Table of content

• Summary
• Targets and content
• Tactics, techniques and procedures
• Links to Iranian state
• Endnotes

Summary

Rapid Response Mechanism Canada (RRM Canada) has directly linked to the Iranian state, through open-source analysis, the ongoing viral information operation using AI Lego-style figures. The operation promotes the perspective that Iran has “won the propaganda war” in the Persian Gulf. This includes criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump for his handling of the ongoing hostilities in the region. The operation occasionally includes additional targets, such as Israel and Gulf Arab states.

Graph 1: Global user views of Explosive Media AI Lego-style content on TikTok outpaced all other platforms

The operation received very high levels of engagement. RRM Canada estimates that at least 83 million users globally viewed the videos in the first month of the U.S.-Iran conflict, in March 2026. It also received extensive news coverage from major global news outlets such as the BBC, CNN, and the New York Times, adding to the operation’s virality.

RRM Canada assesses that Explosive Media, a Tehran-based outlet and creators of the videos, is likely linked to Saeed Jalili, Representative of the Supreme Leader at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).^{Footnote i}  Explosive Media denies any links to the state and presents itself as an independent media outlet that needs audience support through cryptocurrency donations.

Image 1: GB News shares an Explosive Media AI Lego-style video on TikTok, receiving high user engagement and views

Targets and content

Explosive Media established a presence on Telegram and Instagram – the two most popular platforms in Iran – on June 25, 2025. At its launch, Explosive Media produced Farsi-language one-minute vertical videos about the then-ongoing “12 Day War.” These videos featured human hosts, received low levels of user engagement and views, and were entirely aimed at a Farsi-speaking audience.^{Footnote ii}

On March 7, 2026, Explosive Media switched from producing content in Farsi to producing English-language generative AI videos with Lego-style figures. The switch increased engagement among Western audiences, and the videos quickly received high view counts. RRM Canada also detected both Russian and Iranian state-controlled media accounts boosting visibility of the first AI Lego-style video on X – including RT and Iran Radio PS – in the first 12 hours of its release.^{Footnote iii}

Following this early traction, Explosive Media opened additional accounts on TikTok, Rumble, Threads, BlueSky, UpScrolled, Spotify, and Soundcloud, and distributed the English-language AI Lego-style videos for global audiences. Explosive Media continues to produce Farsi-content on Telegram, which features a mix of AI Lego-style and human hosts.

In its assessment of a viral foreign information operation from a state-linked network in Iran, RRM Canada reviewed the campaign’s activities from March 2026. RRM Canada assesses that at least 83 million users globally and in Canada viewed an AI Lego-style video. However, the number is likely higher, as these videos were frequently removed by platforms for violating their terms of service. Overall, RRM Canada estimates that likely 200 million users viewed at least one AI Lego-style video in March 2026.

The information operation has largely focused on producing content. RRM Canada assesses that Russia and Iranian state-controlled media outlets played a small part in amplifying the AI Lego-style videos to new audiences but played a minimal role in their ongoing virality throughout March, with only 4 million user views (4.38 percent) of its 83 million total views emanating from accounts that bear an IP location of Russia or Iran.

Graph 2: Iranian and Russian state-controlled media likely played a small role in boosting Explosive Media’s AI Lego-style videos to mainstream audiences on March 7th, 2026, but likely did not contribute to its ongoing virality

Tactics, techniques and procedures

Image 2: “Individual 1” on Explosive Media’s Telegram channel

The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) credits the traction of the operation to its use of “humour,” and its targeting of “politically uninvested people who otherwise wouldn’t have engaged with war-related content.”^{Footnote iv}

404 Media also notes that Explosive Media has leveraged Lego-style’s global cultural ubiquity to the success of its AI Lego-style videos.^{Footnote v}

Links to Iranian state

To determine Explosive Media’s possible connection to the Iranian state, RRM Canada reviewed the outlet’s Telegram channel, which features videos with human hosts, and provides insight into its origins. Below are some examples of content that RRM Canada reviewed which link an individual collaborator of Explosive Media to the Iranian state.

The channel features several human hosts, notably one male (“Individual 1”) who appears in more than twenty Farsi-language videos. This individual has appeared consistently since the outlet’s earliest posts in June 2025.^{Footnote vi} RRM Canada assesses that Individual 1 is likely involved in content production.

RRM Canada identified a March 17, 2026, AI Lego-style video on Explosive Media’s Instagram account, listing “M. Taha Ansari Mohseri” – who strongly resembles Individual 1 – as a video collaborator. Under Meta’s guidelines, this designation requires Mr. Mohseri’s approval.^{Footnote vii}

In June 2024, Mr. Mohseri was part of Saeed Jalili’s social media team during Mr. Jalili’s unsuccessful 2024 Iranian presidential run and continued to appear frequently in Mr. Jalili’s official Telegram and Instagram presence.^{Footnote viii}

In June 2025, Mr. Mohseri appeared on Mr. Jalili’s “aqave_president” Telegram account directing users to follow Mr. Mohseri at Explosive Media.^{Footnote ix} It is likely that Mr. Jalili or his associates consented to his Telegram account being used to direct his subscribers to Explosive Media.

Image 3: An Instagram user that is likely “Individual 1”

Implications

RRM Canada assesses that Iran’s AI Lego-style videos are likely the most widely viewed foreign information operation since the start of 2026, surpassing all other malign activity carried out by Russia or any other state actors.

Experts at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue estimate that Iran’s broader AI-driven operations – which have branched out to include even more child-friendly intellectual properties, such as the video game Minecraft and Pixar-style animated characters – likely amassed over a billion views in the first month of the conflict.^{Footnote x}

As the operation is active on nearly every mainstream social media platform, it is likely that a significant portion of Canadian social media users encountered this content in the period between March to June 2026, including many under 16 given the youth-oriented intellectual property used. RRM Canada has also found a growing number of copycat creators who produce similar AI Lego‑style videos.

Image 4: “Individual 1” appears on Jalili’s Instagram account in 2024